Just come back from seeing this (in London). Two audience observations: it certainly held the audience's attention. It may have been prurient interest but like, for instance, in the scene where Destiny turns off the journalists recorder and the sound drops out, the cinema (which was about 65% full) was SILENT. Also, as soon as the film ended, the audience was up and out of there, many missing the callback of all the ladies dancing on the pole in the end credit sequence, which to me suggests a kind of distaste for it. They may have even reviled it.
The problem with this film is given the subject matter and tone of the piece, there's no opportunity to really *enjoy* it. The use of grandmothers and children to create sympathy for these criminals who are drugging people is pretty suspect. It's a lot of walking in and out of clubs with deeply shallow people whose only real sensibility is deeply consumerist. With the exception of one mark, the filmmakers don't even try to humanise the men - they're all just crash test dummies. (It's quite funny as well, the insistence of the film that the crash of 2007 happened to "the country" rather than, as it did, TO THE WORLD. This kind of myopia is at least in keeping with the rest of the film which would also make you think IT ONLY HAPPENED TO STRIPPERS.) The short of it is, there is nothing feel good about this film. And unlike, say Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, there is no one in Hustlers who can make these women's situation palatable (in its day). For better or for worse, they don't even try unless you count the filmmaker's near total evasion of their immorality as a minor effort.
Hustlers is Goodfellas-lite, the cinematic equivalent of a fat-free, low calorie yogurt made with Nutrasweet. It is in every way what Bob Seger's Night Moves is to Eric Clapton's Layla, only slightly less, since it plays like a easy template included with a book called Crime Films For Dummies.
All of the said, J-Lo has the BEST Oscar narrative going and has really put it out there: her films - none of them Marvel films, obvs, have a worldwide gross of $1.2B, and she's pretty much carried them all on her own, ethnic diversity - check, decades-long career - check, fashion story - CHECK!!, overdue (those recent, no doubt planted stories, about being overlooked for Selena) - check, glamour/stardom quotient - CHECK!!, female producer credit - check, etc., etc. Her only challenge is the film itself. She could lodge herself into the Best Actress category, potentially, but would be a lock for a win in BSA. Do people in the industry like her enough? That's a question but they almost certainly RESPECT her enough to make it happen. And it's not just her but would also be an award for Benny Medina, her longtime manager and industry player. It is the best Oscar narrative going.
I would add, as well, the J-Lo "Oscar comeback" story will almost certainly eclipse the Zellwegger "Oscar comeback" narrative which has nothing like the scale.
For many people, the J-Lo Oscar campaign (and eventual win) is a huge draw - which the Oscars need. And what could be more glamorous than J-Lo AND Brad Pitt winning supporting Oscars for, arguably, career best work?
Will be interesting to see what the audience score for this one is. For a country where half the population doesn't have it in their hearts to give "Dreamers" a path to citizenship, I'm not sure even J-Lo can sweeten the taste of these superficial, grasping, greedy criminals. Even in g-strings.
